Awareness And Opinions

COVID-19 - THE MONSTER TEACHER

Mr. D. Ashok Kumar is a very optimistic School Leader working as Principal in Gyan Ganga International Academy, Bhopal since 2011. He has a vast experience in school education and leadership. He opines that we need to find something good even in the worse situations instead of nagging to avoid distress and being desolate. This is one unique quality he feels should be inculcated in children.

- April 29, 2020

Nobody could have ever anticipated the unprecedented situation which has shaken the globe with the strike of the fatal and dreadful Covid -19. The entire country is in lockdown by the fear of getting exposed to the transmission of this contagious virus. There are several speculations as to from where this dreadful virus made its entry and has consummated the life of lakhs of people till date when I am trying to write this blog. The situation of people across the country, especially the economically weaker section is pathetic and painful during this lock down as they are deprived of their livelihood. Those migrants who got stuck at different corners are in great agony as they are not able to meet their family and be with them during this critical situation. Their heart wrenching wails couldn't be addressed. They are coerced to survive on the indefinite meager supplies received. Everybody is in the hope to get through this crucial situation at the earliest so as to regain their normal lives, to be with their family, relatives and friends but there seems no chance of ruling out as the situation is getting critical with every single day and the statistics on the surge.

Covid - The Monster Teacher

Candidly speaking Covid has devastated our lives and exiled us. All might be cursing and praying for its immediate evacuation, even me too. It's a matter of immense sorrow and distress that we lost innumerable lives but if we think positive this monster has brought immense change too. Whether it is human beings, animals or the environment, all are enjoying this positive change. The Planet is happy and partying because it is now able to breathe freely without any congestion. There is a sharp decline in the pollution levels as all the factors basically which led to high pollution have been paused due to the lock down. The earth has started gradually regaining its green color. The water in the lakes and rivers have become crystal clear. The temperature has immensely dipped and seems the planet has once again become a zenith for the survival of everyone. The ozone layer has started reconstructing itself. The flora and fauna seems to be ecstatic as there are no demons to disturb and end their existence.

Don't Lose Hope. After Every Night There comes A Day

Now, whatever the situation we are in but it's necessary not to lose hope and be optimistic because after every dusk there comes a dawn, which brings a ray of hope. Everyone is in the hope of that dawn, that morning ray of light which ought to bring hope of a new life. Of course if we are able to bounce back and surmount this dreadful situation, it would be a gift to humanity i.e., survival back from death. By then we all would be prepared to move ahead understanding very well the significance of nature and its resources necessary for human existence. We all need to go green and try to save our planet from another Covid-2 which otherwise may soon hit us back.

Covid Coerced Teachers To Educate Being At Home

I primarily being a teacher and an administrator of a school is vested with unlimited responsibilities. We teachers can't stop performing our duties and have to bounce back from the scary situation whatsoever to find a way out and plan 'what next'. We need to immediately act and decide how to carry on with our routine jobs to teach children even in the lock down situation i.e., Educating from home to home. Necessity is the mother of discoveries and Inventions is a bitter truth. Thus when the need arose, schools and teachers found out ample number of E-Learning platforms through which teaching could be continued uninterrupted.; Though Online teaching is not an easy task but then the teachers took it as a challenge and could accomplish their task with utmost perfection. Every subject whether academics, co-academics or co-curricular was taken care of as was done in school through online teaching during lock down. Home of students now turned in to schools and the entire learning was provided online regularly in a structured manner. Students were taught value education, culinary skills, organizational skills and even counseling and measures to keep themselves safe from the transmission of virus. Online Assessments and PTM's too took place after the successful completion of syllabus for March and April.

We always boast about the 21st century skills being taught in schools but the practical implication of it could be witnessed now when the lessons are imparted online with students receiving it at the other end from home. The physical classroom teaching how and when it would start is really apprehensive. Those teachers who always tried to escape accepting change are coerced to accept technology and the best part is that they are doing wonderfully too. From Parents to Teachers and Students all have become tech savvy and are now rendering smart work from home through the available gadgets.

Covid Led Earths Revival Process

It seems that nature has decided to mould and revive back by itself making Covid as the medium. We have forbidden all that which we thought were very crucial and significant for us and couldn't have survived without. We are staying in house since long which we never ever could have thought before would happen. Just see what impact it has made to the environment when there is no one around to filth, pollute and destroy our natural resources or mismanage it. We have stopped travelling as all the public transports like Buses, Rails, Airways are on a standstill during lock down. Even personal Vehicles are not allowed except for some emergency grounds. We have no chance of spending extravagantly and the good part is that we are at home 24x7 managing with limited resources as people are scared that supplies of essentials may get interrupted in this critical situation. The best part is that all those who nagged about lack of time for family are taking care of their home and family staying inside.

Life Skills by Covid

We are very reckless and always let go of things instead of taking it seriously. Most of us are in the habit of procrastinating and this nature of ours has always invited troubles then too we hardly take pain to change. We are capable enough to judge between good and evil, right and wrong but never are ready to change by accepting our mistakes. We human beings are deemed to change when we get in to trouble and do a good amount of damage to ourselves. We wait for this to happen and till then we just try to neglect and push off. Such jolts can only teach us and seem to have started with the mark of Covid. We are getting enough time amidst lock down to contemplate and become remorseful too for what we have done. We now are able to calculate the damages done to us and our planet. This is a revival process and thanks to the situation which taught us all what we couldn't by ourselves.

Nagging in any adverse situation is not a solution and it brings in and around negativity. We always should act intelligently in finding out creative solutions by critical thinking. Most of The Teachers are good in strategizing and always try to find out ways how to move a head in any critical situation with a positive vibe. This is what we advocate to our students all times in and out and try to inculcate in them a confident attitude prepared to fight till the end and eventually triumph without losing hope.

I salute the entire fraternity of teachers who kept the hope of students ignited during this adverse and critical situation and tried to tackle the budding scholars exiled in house with enthusiasm and agility.

Covid Helped Students To Explore and Nurture Their Innate Abilities

The students are continuously engaged in learning online being at home by the teachers during the lockdown. Though online learning being a new concept for school children was welcomed by everyone but have to wait and watch whether it will be able to replace the physical classroom learning fully in future. Now when home turned out to be the school for students there was ample time for them to explore and nurse their latent skills and talents. The students got ample time to give wings to their interests and creativity. They could utilize their time productively in exploring their hobbies and polish it. The only need was of a facilitator, a teachers who could give a push to their creativeness and channelize their energy and talent to the right direction which the teachers are doing phenomenally well.

Paramount Global Importance To The Indian Ayurveda After Yoga During Covid

Indian culture and values have often attracted attention globally but it took hundreds of years for the people of our own country to acknowledge our own strengths and glorious traditions. Our scientific theories and principles which were developed after years of research by great thinkers and scientists were never accepted globally and couldn't gain popularity. It took millions of years to get an exposure and acceptance world wide and now gradually countries across the world have started feeling the importance of our traditions and cultures and are taking acute interests as well and also have started pursuing it. During Covid the Doctors and Scientists across the countries post ample research suggesting the people of their country to regularly practice Yoga and use Ayurveda as a preventive measure to augment their immunity level to fight Corona.

Covid Has Brought A New Chapter In Our Lives

Change is the need of the time and every inhabitant of this planet has to undergo change for their existence or may perish with the passage of time. Covid has brought immense changes in our lives which no one would have ever thought of. We have learned to compromise with the situations and have abandoned all the luxuries which were an essential part of life we thought of Covid has really taught us a new way of living. It has given us new life lessons which the inhabitants of this earth would remember for a pretty long time. We need to seriously mull on the situations and act wisely in future to reduce wastage of our precious resources. We need to teach our children and the generations to come to abandon our selfish nature and think about everyone and our planet as a whole where we live or else there would be no place left for us to live. If we want to live happily then respect our environment, treat it gently and with care, try to bring prosperity by planting more and more trees, reducing pollution, save water, save power, save trees, saving our forests, hills and mountains, keeping our ponds, lakes and rivers clean.

Live and Let others Live in Peace and Integrity. Lets go Green and drive this Covid out as now there is no need for a monster teacher any longer. The lockdown period was enough to make us realize our mistakes and we are done now. It may take a little time but with good patience and proper social distancing it is definitely possible to drive this virus out from our country.